1. Technical Field
The inventive arrangements relate generally to video systems and more particularly to video systems that record or play back digitally encoded video sequences.
2. Description of Related Art
Digital televisions (DTV) and high-definition televisions (HDTV) are gaining popularity in today's consumer electronics marketplace. Many purchasers of these types of televisions also buy digital video recorders or players, such as digital video disc (DVD) recorders or players, for purposes of viewing previously recorded programs or recording their favorite programs. Notably, the combination of a DTV (or an HDTV) and a digital video recorder or player can be an integral part of a home theater entertainment system.
A digital video recorder or player typically contains a Moving Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) decoder to decode the digitally encoded multimedia data that is stored on the discs that the recorder or player plays. If the digital video recorder or player is connected to a conventional (non-DTV or non-HDTV) television, the digitally encoded signal will be decoded by the digital video recorder's or player's MPEG decoder before being displayed on the conventional television. Significantly, however, many DTV's contain their own MPEG decoders. As such, if a digital video recorder or player is connected to a DTV, the video signal read from the disc is remotely decoded by the DTV's decoder. This configuration can be referred to as a remote decoder arrangement.
There is, however, an important disadvantage to decoding digitally encoded signals with a remote DTV decoder. Namely, it is very difficult to perform trick modes in this type of arrangement. A trick mode can be any playback of video in which the playback is not done at a normal speed or in a forward direction. Oftentimes, a trick mode involves repeating a number of pictures in a video signal such as during a slow motion trick mode. As the bandwidth between the digital video recorder or player and the DTV is limited, repeating pictures in the signal being fed to the DTV may cause the signal to exceed the maximum bit rate limit of the transmission channel. The problem is even more acute if the pictures are intra (I) pictures or predictive (P) pictures, as these pictures are generally encoded with more bits than the average picture. Thus, a need exists for a method and system for performing a trick mode in a remote decoder arrangement without exceeding a maximum bit rate limit and without increasing system costs or complexity.